Transcend Digitalhttps://transcend.agency Connecticut Digital Marketing AgencyFri, 16 Nov 2018 22:09:44 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.7https://i0.wp.com/transcend.agency/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/cropped-zen-circle.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1Transcend Digitalhttps://transcend.agency 32321344606323 Things I Learned At The Tony Robbins UPW Eventhttps://transcend.agency/2018/11/16/3-things-learned-tony-robbins-upw/ Fri, 16 Nov 2018 22:09:44 +0000https://transcend.agency/?p=2226Tony Robbins Unleash The Power Within Event Summary Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to attend the 4-day Tony Robbins UPW (Unleash The Power Within) Event in Newark, NJ. I would not have normally signed up for such a seminar, what with it lasting four full days, but a generous client of my digital marketing agency […]

Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to attend the 4-day Tony Robbins UPW (Unleash The Power Within) Event in Newark, NJ. I would not have normally signed up for such a seminar, what with it lasting four full days, but a generous client of my digital marketing agency actually invited me and paid for everything. So off I was.

The seminar runs four full days lasting 12 – 15 hours per day. On the first day, there were actually zero breaks. Tony Robbins remained on stage the entire time (roughly 13 hours or more). And when I say remained on stage, I mean he was yelling dancing, jumping, running, bouncing – You name it. I can’t believe he can operate at such a high level for such a long period time, but he did. Never did he seem he was tired or winded.

The entire event from beginning to end has a rock concert vibe, with wall to wall loud music, lights, giant video screens, and a lot of dancing and shaking to keep everyone energized and on their feet as well as to keep them in “State”. And by the way, the arena is freezing cold the entire time.

But this article is not a review or a play by play, I am writing this to tell you what my main takeaways were.

1) Your Mindset Determines Your Outcomes

Of course our state of mind or mindset is important in any endeavor we undertake, this is nothing new. But Tony had a way of infusing this principle into your soul. He combines a series of visualization techniques as well as physical, audible and mental processes which get your entire being into “State” or “Beautiful States”.

I can only describe these as self-brainwashing or self-hypnosis techniques designed to put your entire being in a positive, confident, take no prisoners condition. Tony showed us and we experienced how by changing your body, how you stand, your posture, your breathing, your movement, you can actually change your emotional state.

When you are in “Beautiful State”, you are fearless, bold and ready to take action. For me, the test will be to see if I can get into and maintain “State” in the real world for a prolonged period of time.

2) Take Immediate And Massive Action – Tony Robbins UPW

This concept really resonated with me. The takeaway here is that when you make a decision or decide on a goal, you must go all in and go all in big. There are to be no baby steps, you can not be timid. You must do everything in your power to achieve the goal you’ve set, you must burn your ships at the shore so as to eliminate the possibility of retreat.

Again, this is not a new concept — Napoleon Hill writes about this in “Think and Grow Rich” which was published in 1937. In it, Hill writes that the most successful people make decisions quickly and change their minds slowly. Robbins too emphasizes this point as a companion to the Massive Action Principle.

When we attack our goal with meekness, we open ourselves up to doubt, hesitation, failure and quitting. By going all in and betting the house, we greatly reduce the risk of those negative emotions sabotaging our success.

3) We Must Eliminate Our Stacked Limiting Beliefs and Replace Them With Their Opposite Truths

This was the deepest, most intense and in my opinion the most important portion of the Tony Robbins UPW 4-day event by far.

Here, Tony opened my eyes (and everyone else’s it seemed) to the lies we tell ourselves every single day, and how we rely on those lies as excuses for not succeeding, not chasing our dreams and goals and not living the life we want, deserve or desire.

The real damage comes when we begin to stack these beliefs one on top of the other — They hold us down, weigh us down and kill our spirit and they kill any chance we have at living a fulfilled and happy life. I know I’m guilty of this. The seminar opened my eyes to just how many limiting beliefs I actually have and how many lies I have been constantly telling myself.

During this session, the entire Tony Robbins UPW audience goes through a visualization exercise led by Tony Robbins where they accept those limiting beliefs as true. They then must visualize just how damaging and destructive those beliefs have been and how damaging and destructive they will be in the 10, 20, 30 years in the future. It is a painful exercise to put it mildly.

Changing Your Limiting Beliefs

Then, the crowd must visualize the true opposite of those limiting beliefs and how they are lies. They must replace them with their true opposite: “I am young and vibrant”, “I am smart”, “All the money I need to achieve my goal is available” …

At this point everyone visualizes how wonderful things are, how vibrant, abundant, loving, happy things are and will be by believing what’s true – The opposite of your limiting beliefs.

I cannot do this exercise justice in this blog post, but suffice it to say, it was powerful, deep and dare I say life changing, at least for me. I urge everyone to try to uncover what your limiting beliefs are. You must be honest with yourself. Find them and change them. If not, they will continue to hold you back.

Conclusion

The Tony Robbins Unleash The Power Within Event is a powerful but tiring experience. If you are to get any benefit from it, you must drink the Kool-Aid at least while you are in the room.

Much if not all of the information is probably stuff you have heard before, but hearing it and knowing it are two different things. For example: A person might understand that they shouldn’t eat fried food and smoke cigarettes because it’s bad for their health, but that may not stop them from doing so. However if that person had a massive heart attack they would then KNOW that those things will kill them and would be much more likely to change their habits.

For me, after walking away from the Tony Robbins UPW event, I can honestly say there are at least a few things that I now KNOW that were once only understood.

]]>2226How The Digital Marketing Industry Has Failed Youhttps://transcend.agency/2018/02/28/digital-marketing-industry-has-failed-you/ Wed, 28 Feb 2018 20:52:21 +0000https://transcend.agency/?p=1985The Ugly Truth About Digital Marketing Campaigns Just troll the pages of LinkedIn and marketing blogs around the web and you will be inundated with a lot of fancy buzzwords like Omnichannel, Customer Journey, Zero Moment of Truth, Micro Moments, GEO Fencing, programmatic, and on and on and on. How Digital Marketing Companies Have Let […]

Just troll the pages of LinkedIn and marketing blogs around the web and you will be inundated with a lot of fancy buzzwords like Omnichannel, Customer Journey, Zero Moment of Truth, Micro Moments, GEO Fencing, programmatic, and on and on and on.

How Digital Marketing Companies Have Let You Down

Talk to just about any ad rep and they will pepper you with these newly created terms. They will insist that if you want to grow your business and make more money, then “You need to consider the customer journey.” Or “You have to engage in an omnichannel strategy.” or “Getting more engaged visitors is what’s really necessary.” Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah!!! They use these words in an effort to make you just punch drunk enough to pull the trigger and sign a yearlong marketing contract.

Now, I will be the first to tell you that those words, concepts and/or ideas may be very useful. Brand lift, engagement or the customer journey may be an important aspect of selling more goods and services for your business. But alone, they are nothing.

What your ad rep or marketing rep should be selling you is a solution to your problems, mainly, how to grow your business and make more money. Rarely if ever have I found the solution to be as simple as a buying a sponsored post on Facebook or a highly targeted Native ad campaign. Those things are easy. A trained monkey can put that together.

The fact is, most of the clients I have handled over the years wouldn’t even know what to do with more web traffic or phone calls. They usually don’t have the wherewithal to turn that traffic into dollars. They do not have an effective and efficient sales processes in place. They don’t have long-term customer development and retention systems in place either.

Google Adwords, Facebook, Programmatic Advertising, they are only tools, but it takes more than tools to build a house. You need a blueprint, a foundation, a roof, plumbing, sheetrock and a whole lot of other things before you can move in.

What needs to be considered before you begin any ad campaign is how you can leverage the effects of the campaign to grow your business. If you are suddenly receiving more phone calls will your staff be equipped to handle them? Are they properly trained on how to advance a conversation from “hello” to the point where that caller becomes an actual lead or paying customer? If not, then you are just wasting your money.

Also, is your website ready for more traffic? Do you have a generic website with all the normal bells and whistles, or do you have a lead generating monster that turns a high percentage of visitors into prospects – Do you have a message or offer that compels people into action? And do you have a system of turning prospects into instant or eventual paying customers? These are the questions that are more important than which digital platform you are going to advertise on.

A Better Way To Do Digital Marketing

Life is about the journey, that is true. But a marketing campaign must be about the outcome. How many dollars am I putting in, and how many am I going to get back in return? That is the fundamental question you should be asking. In my opinion, if you are getting less than you put in, then you have probably wasted your money.

Shiny balls and silver bullets rarely if ever work in my experience. Planning, systems, execution, and strategy are THE most important part of any marketing campaign. Trust me, when its time to drive traffic to your business, we will find a way to deliver that traffic. But turning that traffic into real dollars, that’s what separates the men from the boys or women from the girls.

I hope you consider all this before you hand over another marketing dollar to someone who is selling you the value of brand lift, omnichannel, sponsored posts or whatever the term of the day is without a way of turning it all into more business for you, because that person is simply selling you a product. Instead, listen to the person who comes with a plan, a strategy, the person who comes with a finished home, not a hammer and nails – A Solution!

If you want me to peek under the hood of your business marketing plan, just ask. I’ll do it for free. Message me. I run a digital marketing agency in CT.

One of the hardest jobs in digital marketing is establishing and maintaining Google rankings. Our CT SEO Firm works hard day and night on behalf of our clients to meet the necessary demand of page one rankings. Pay per click is find and works, but great rankings are the gifts that keeps on giving and provide you with the best return on your marketing investment. I know, I know, you came to this page for the quick tips, so here they are.

5 CT SEO Firm Quick Website Ranking Tips For Your Website

Create And Optimize Your Google My Business Page. This is the definitely the first step you should take, especially if you are a local business. Be sure to fully complete your profile with as much information, photos and videos as possible. Outdo your competition to the best of your ability here.

Make sure yo website is mobile Friendly Your website will actually get penalized in web rankings if it offers a poor mobile experience. One of the first things our CT SEO firm does when starting our with a new client is identify how well the site performs on mobile devices.

Lots of Fresh Unique Content Get in the habit of posting new, relevant, quality content to your website or blog on at least a weekly basis of not more. Google loves fresh content and the more you post, the more frequently their spiders will crawl your site. All things being equal, the guy with the most quality content wins.

Optimize Your Images You should be adding lots of pictures to your content. But don’t just stick them on the page, optimize them. Here at CT SEO Firm, we alway make sure that the images have keyword rich alt tags and titles. This lets Google and other search engines know what the picture is about. You’ll be surprised at how much traffic pictures alone can bring to your website.

Make Sure Your Page Titles Are SEO Optimized This is a biggie. Your page titles must contain the keyword(s) you are trying to rank for. Example: If you are trying to rank for “Divorce Lawyer in New Haven” , that phrase must be in the title of the page, something like: ” Attorney Joe Smith Best Divorce Lawyer In New Haven”.

BONUS CT SEO FIRM TIP

Be sure to have your focus key word in your Headings on your page. H1, H2, and H3 Tags should contain your keywords. The trick is to do it naturally.

So after reading all the above tips, can you guess what keyword my CT SEO Firm is trying to rank for by writing this article? It should be quite easy to spot.

]]>19155 Marketing Strategies For Pot Dealershttps://transcend.agency/2017/10/25/5-marketing-strategies-pot-dealers/ Wed, 25 Oct 2017 11:44:53 +0000https://transcend.agency/?p=1911Even Legal Cannabis Dealers Need A Marketing Strategy I found this interesting article online about marketing strategies for Cannabis dealers. More and more states are legalizing marijuana for medical and recreational purposes and the number of legal pot dealers is growing. With a growing amount of vendors comes a growing amount of competition. And, like […]

I found this interesting article online about marketing strategies for Cannabis dealers. More and more states are legalizing marijuana for medical and recreational purposes and the number of legal pot dealers is growing.

With a growing amount of vendors comes a growing amount of competition. And, like any other business, if you have competition, you need to market yourself to stand out and out perform your competitors.

“While the traditional B2B mindset is rooted in established marketing strategies, there are some worth looking into that will help your cannabis business. Investors and entrepreneurs know this, and they’re constantly seeking the way to convert marketing into sales.”

According to the article, Here are 5 Marketing Strategies For Cannabis Dealers

]]>1911Be Careful When Buying Programmatic Advertisinghttps://transcend.agency/2017/10/24/be-careful-when-buying-programmatic-advertising/ Tue, 24 Oct 2017 20:13:25 +0000https://transcend.agency/?p=1905Programmatic Advertising Can Be A Giant Waste of Money Not long ago, if you wanted to buy banner ads, you basically had to buy them directly from the sites you wanted to advertise on. This was typically done through a broker of some sort. You would place an order for a certain number of impressions […]

Not long ago, if you wanted to buy banner ads, you basically had to buy them directly from the sites you wanted to advertise on. This was typically done through a broker of some sort. You would place an order for a certain number of impressions at a certain price and your order would be filled. Your ad would then run on the sites and would be seen by real human people who may or may not click and buy from you. But it was a fair exchange.

Fast forward to the invention of programmatic ad buying. This is where you or your marketing agency buys ad impressions based on behavior, demographics, content, geography etc., all done via online software. Once you place your buy, the computer program goes out into the world wide web and a network of websites and bids on available ad space that will be seen by your target audience. Sounds easy. Sounds cool. Sounds efficient. Only one problem, if your not careful, you could easily get scammed.

How Bots Can Scam Your Advertising Dollars

“Hasn’t Procter and Gamble chief digital office Marc Pritchard been on a crusade, exhorting advertisers to take better control over where their digital ads are running? Considering that some P&G ads were found to be running on fake sites in BuzzFeed’s story, it seems like nothing much has changed.”

So, how do you get scammed when you run programmatic advertising? I’ll give you the readers digest version: Basically millions, maybe billions of bots scour the web and visit websites. The bots emulate human behavior and even click on banner ads all in an effort to make it look as if a website has more traffic than it actually does so that they can sell more advertising to people like you and I that will never be seen by anyone except a stupid bot.

The lesson here is that as an advertiser or agency, you must must must have safeguards in place to identify and prevent ad fraud. If you don’t you are likely wasting your money.

]]>1905Get Your Marketing Prepared For The Holiday Seasonhttps://transcend.agency/2017/10/23/get-marketing-prepared-holiday-season/ Mon, 23 Oct 2017 15:11:25 +0000https://transcend.agency/?p=1901Don’t Wait To To Make Your Holiday Season Marketing Plans Every year, you hear people say, ” I can’t believe Christmas is already here”. I hear that statement a lot, both in personal and business relationships. It seems like the holidays always sneak up on us and then we are left scrambling to make preparations […]

Every year, you hear people say, ” I can’t believe Christmas is already here”. I hear that statement a lot, both in personal and business relationships. It seems like the holidays always sneak up on us and then we are left scrambling to make preparations and plans. This is also true for business marketers. Somehow, many business owners are left flat footed when it comes to creating a marketing campaign for the holiday season.

“Coming off a decent 2016 where holiday consumer spending went up, retailers and other businesses will be preparing some major marketing pushes this year. Now you just need to figure out how you’ll stand out above the crowd.”

The key as you may have already guessed is planning. To be effective, you have to create and layout a strategy long before it is time to implement your holiday marketing strategy. At our CT Marketing Agency, we typically begin the process in the summer. That usually gives us ample time to do an effective job.

Here are Four Things You Can Do To Get Prepared For Your Holiday Marketing Push

Base Your Marketing Around Value vs Discounts. Everyone offers discounts. You may have better success differentiating your brand, your philosophy and selling the intangibles that only your business can provide.

Set Your Budget Now And Stick To It – Because digital marketing campaigns can be complex to create and optimize, your budget should be set early and you should give your campaigns time to germinate and allow for optimization in order to increase ROI.

Figure Out Where To Advertising – Determine ahead of time the best places to advertise your business. Is it SEM, Social TV, Email, Radio etc?

Prepare Your Creatives Now – You d not want to be scrambling to get your graphics, text and other marketing materials done at the last minute. Haste makes waste” Rushing to complete what may be the most important facet of digital marketing may end up costing you sales and opportunities.

]]>1901Should You Outsource Your Digital Marketinghttps://transcend.agency/2017/10/20/should-you-outsource-your-digital-marketing/ Fri, 20 Oct 2017 11:28:09 +0000https://transcend.agency/?p=1896Should You Take On The Task Of Digital Marketing Or Turn It Over To The Professionals Running a business is a hard thing to do. When you own or manage a business, you have to wear several hats and the there is no job to big or too small to do. The pressures are constant, […]

]]>Should You Take On The Task Of Digital Marketing Or Turn It Over To The Professionals

Running a business is a hard thing to do. When you own or manage a business, you have to wear several hats and the there is no job to big or too small to do. The pressures are constant, the turmoil usually never ending and the need to bring in new business is an endless challenge.

“Many companies find themselves trying to do it all, but when it comes to filling the sales pipeline it might be most beneficial to place the process of collecting leads through digital efforts in the hands of the most capable.”

Digital Marketing Creates An Added Burden Form Many Business Owners

With all the challenges on the plate of the today’s business owner or manager faces, running an effective digital marketing campaign can be a very difficult chore `to handle. The constant changes and strategies involved in running a good campaign make it a full time job unto itself. Moreover, if you are not successful in this arena, your business can suffer big time.

Another thing to consider is the actual cost of running digital marketing campaigns. Pay per click, Programmatic advertising, SEO, Content Marketing and the like are expensive. Failure to optimize these efforts can not only lead to a waste in ad spend, but can also result in missed opportunities for sales and growth which may be harder to recover from.

]]>18966 Ways To Use Local Marketing To Sell Morehttps://transcend.agency/2017/10/19/7-ways-to-use-local-marketing-to-sell-more/ Thu, 19 Oct 2017 11:41:53 +0000https://transcend.agency/?p=1891For Many Small Businesses Local Marketing Is The Key To Success Local Marketing, also known as location based marketing can be a very powerful tool for growing sales in your business. The general principal is to target prospects or consumers who are in close geographic proximity to your physical location. Our CT SEO company often […]

Local Marketing, also known as location based marketing can be a very powerful tool for growing sales in your business.

The general principal is to target prospects or consumers who are in close geographic proximity to your physical location. Our CT SEO company often capitalizes on this strategy to deliver exceptional ROI to our clients who sell within their communities.

What Types of Businesses Can Benefit From Local Marketing SEO?

Basically, if you operate a business where people walk into your establishment, or where you drive to see customers you can benefit. Google local SEO is extremely map dependent, meaning if you do not have a physical location in the proximity of the searcher, you will not show up on Goolge Local Results pages.

“Both consumers and search engines are greatly in favor of hyper-localized marketing, so now’s the time to make it work for your brand.”

Here are 6 Things You Can Do To Take Advantage Of A Local Marketing Strategy

Offer Better Service And Value At A Lower Price – You are catering to your community, be the best, offer the best, outshine the competition.

Optimize Your Website With The Right Keywords – Be sure you use location based words, text and images in your titles, page content, meta descriptions and more.

Engage With Your Community On Social Media – Use social media to be social. There is a place and a time for advertising on social websites. But you also need to interact with your community, and social media sites are an easy way to do that.

Get Testimonials From Local Customers – The More The Better.

Give Your Ads A Local Flavor Be Sure To Mention Towns, Local Teams, Local Happenings Etc.

Try to get backinks from local publications – This will offer a great deal of SEO power for your website.

]]>1891Digital Marketing Is Changing – What You Need To Knowhttps://transcend.agency/2017/10/18/digital-marketing-is-changing-what-you-need-to-know/ Wed, 18 Oct 2017 21:29:58 +0000https://transcend.agency/?p=1887Everything About Digital Marketing Is Constantly Changing There is an expression expression that goes: “The Only Thing That Remains Constant Is Change”. That could not be more true than it is in the world of digital marketing. Every day, there are changes. What worked yesterday, no longer works today. What didn’t work yesterday, suddenly is […]

There is an expression expression that goes: “The Only Thing That Remains Constant Is Change”. That could not be more true than it is in the world of digital marketing. Every day, there are changes. What worked yesterday, no longer works today. What didn’t work yesterday, suddenly is hotter than hot. Your favorite platform disappeared, a new and fancier one took its place, and on and on and on.

How Are Changes In Digital Marketing Affecting Your Strategy?

“Today, however, the marketing ecosystem has changed once again, and the most effective marketing strategies now take an integrated approach.”

That most important thing to remember is that you have to be willing to adapt to change. Sticking to your guns can be a fatal mistake. In the internet marketing world, those who adapt thrive, those who don’t, die.

So here are some things to keep in mind in the ever-changing world of digital marketing:

Analytics Are Your Friend: Be on alert for sudden changes, opportunities and pitfalls that come your way.

Customer Is Key: Digital Smidgital – Regardless of trends, changes and technology, you must remain focused on your customer and what they need.

Integration is Important – Although digital is king, you should look for opportunities to marry it with traditional advertising channels.

Content Is King — By curating and creating great content, you can position yourself as the your industry’s go-to source for information.

]]>1887The Rise Of Video In Digital Marketinghttps://transcend.agency/2017/10/17/rise-video-digital-marketing/ Tue, 17 Oct 2017 11:57:37 +0000https://transcend.agency/?p=1883Video Marketing Has Risen To Become A Powerhouse Method Of Attracting Customers There is no doubt that video marketing is quickly becoming king among all digital marketing platforms. I found an article that demonstrates why video marketing is quickly becoming the preferred medium among all other marketing methods. “As marketers, we’re usually so busy that […]